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"-4
BJLLIE BURKE CRITICIZES MEN WHO WOULD
SAFEGUARD WOMAN'S VIRTUE
Billie Burke, actress and' writer for
The Day Book on woman'sNIress and
kindred topics, and wno is now ap
pearing at :the Illinois Theater here,
'today paid her -compliments to the
proposition- beforethe Ohio legisla
ture to" name a commission to. pass
on the drapery of the fair sex.
By Billie Burke.
:Every1cmce in a while some 'man
with a pigmy brain-and apurient
mind, feels -qalled upon to regulate
woman's dress by law.
Now a Mr-. Louis Si Capelle of Cincinnati-wants
to provide a commis
sion of three men, all married, who
will- prescribe the rules and regula
tions of woman's clothing, 'and pro
hibit such styles as shall be detri
mental to virtue or -chastity
Will these menvnever learn that
what, they call modesty is a j matter
of geography, rather than morality."
The Mohammedan woman will not
expose-her face to any:man .but tier,
husband and yet -she- will' nurse, her
bSby-in' public with the utmost sang
froid, and the Japanese woman is al
ways clothed ;frtfm her neck to" .her
heels,- yet5 "she will take her bath on
11
the sidewalk if her home is limited1
in size, and sweetly apologize to the a
passerby for taking up space devoted'"1
to pedestrians, utterly unconscious 11
that the garb worn- in the garden f
of Eden leaves -anything to be de-'.
sired. " 01
When the fashion of narrow skirts
and no petticoat 'was introduced a
little ovr a year ago there was a
great hue and cry. "Hussy" was one
of the least epithets addressed to the 3
woman who was reveUngin her new-
found "freedom. - .
Narrow skirts and trim figures doj.
not mead immorality, as some insist.
One of the most vicious epochs that'
society .has ever known was that of I
the Court of the Empress' Eugenie,
who introduced the mbt.ample skirts 5 '
that were ev.er wtirn, and revelations '
lately made by one of Qeen Victoria's
court ladies do not tend to prove '
that voluminous flounces were a de
fense against Satan arid his. cohorts. 3-
It is not the cut of a gown, so mucni
as the purity ofthe hearts that beats.j
underneath it that spells modesty or 0
immodesty. The eyes and the hps re- a
veal more, than any garment. A .j
women -draped from the ground, toji
her chin may outrage every instinct
of purity and. self-respect. Why is
the sight of a satin-skinned shoulder si
or .a, gpftrrounded arm an offense to j
Borne people. Why'-shpuldva white cf
neck- be any" more perilous o look ft
upon than a rose-leaf cheek.
Why will- a man who makes a most '
unholy-spectacle-of himself in a bath
ing suit curl up in convulsions when a
his wife, appears in a decollete dinner !
gown? . 1
Undue exposure of "the figure or i
exposure for exposure's sake quickly J
engenders disgust' and so defeats its
own purpose. But why women should'-
be as'hamed' of 'the most wonderful-s
machine that has ever been made and 5
called immodest if she, for one mo-
Mi